Tom Daly (American politician)

In the 1992 Mayoral election, Daly defeated then-Mayor Fred Hunter by a margin of 57% to 43%. The decisive issue in the campaign was an unpopular citywide utility tax supported by then-Mayor Hunter, which was strongly opposed by Daly while he served as a City Councilmember. His 1994 re-election as mayor set a record for the most votes ever received by an Anaheim mayor.

In 1998, Daly defeated a strongly backed Republican and fellow council member Bob Zemel.

As mayor, Daly supported the candidacy of Loretta Sanchez for U.S. Congress. Daly served as an adviser to her successful upstart campaign against longtime incumbent and conservative Bob Dornan, in which Sanchez won by 984 votes.

In 1997, the Anaheim City Council took the unprecedented step of hiring a special prosecutor Ravi Mehta to investigate alleged campaign violations during the 1996 election. Only two out of the five-member council approved the hiring after the Anaheim City Attorney refused to file charges saying the allegations against Daly and Councilmember Irv Pickler were unfounded.

The probe by Mehta, a former chair of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, led to misdemeanor complaints against Daly and Picker. The complaints were ultimately rejected by an Orange County Municipal Judge, who also stated that the council had "no authority [to hire] a special prosecutor, period." The investigation ultimately cost the City of Anaheim more than $302,000 in legal fees. No other city or county in California had ever hired a special prosecutor to investigate suspected campaign finance violations. The investigation came during a time in which Daly considered running for the Orange County 4th Supervisorial District but ultimately declined to run citing personal reasons and his intent to run for reelection for mayor in 1998.

As mayor, Daly oversaw a billion-dollar expansion of the Anaheim Resort area, including the expansion of the Disneyland Resort with Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney as well as an expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center. With these developments, the tourism industry grew tremendously in Anaheim, leading to more jobs and increased City revenue. Revenue from the hotel bed tax doubled from $28.7 million in 1991-92 to $57.7 million in 2001-02. Daly also oversaw the renovation of Angel Stadium. While Mayor, the Anaheim Angels won the 2002 World Series.

During his tenure, the City developed eight new city parks, reduced crime, established higher standards or citywide planning and land development, and created the Anaheim Colony Historic District with tax incentives for owners who maintain historic homes.

While mayor, Daly also served on the board of directors for the Orange County Transportation Authority, where he helped oversee the Measure M $3 billion improvement program.

On March 6, 2012, Daly announced his candidacy for the newly drawn 69th Assembly District to replace termed-out assemblymember Jose Solorio.

In the June 2012 primary election, Daly emerged with the highest number of votes and 39.2% of the overall vote. Democratic challengers Santa Ana councilmember Michele Martinez and Orange County Labor Federation-backed candidate Julio Perez failed to garner enough votes to reach the November general election.

In the November 2012 general election, Daly beat a relatively unknown Republican challenger, Joe Moreno, by a 67.6% to 32.4% margin.

Assemblymember Daly was sworn into the Legislature on December 3, 2012.[1]

Daly served on the following committees:

• Chair, Insurance
• Appropriations
• Governmental Organization
• Veterans Affairs
• Transportation
• Joint Fairs and Allocation

In 2013–14 he chaired the Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on State Administration. In this role, Daly championed efforts to reduce business filing processing delays and backlogs in the Secretary of State's office as well as speed up Veteran Affairs claims by returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan.